Quick let's get to the end...

[Oatik]

I started to post a reply in another thread but decided I could have my 2 coppers in here.

I understand when people are excited about a game they want to play, and I'm sure people will hit the Rift level cap in the first two weeks. The part I don't like is when they start to bitch out it after that. Like how there is no end game. Well, maybe if you'd have read some quest text instead of blowing past all the actual content then there would be something for you to do!

Don't get me wrong, I think a good game has to have plenty of content even for the people that hit the level cap in 2 weeks, maybe some PvP, let all these people fight amongst themselves to see who it top dog.

I'm guessing there is about a ten fold time of play difference between the hard core and the casual player, not counting really casual people that might play only a few hours a week. I think a game is wrong to try to cater to one side or the other. Too hardcore and the casual person runs into a huge grind and no one wants to be stuck at level 38 for days at a time, too easy and half your player base might quit after two months.

I'd make a point here except I think the cold medicine is holding me back, so I'll just keep typing some random words together and hope for the best. *rubs head to speed up brain function* Okay, that's not working like I'd hoped, but my hair is now on fire...

[Jaema]

You're so cranky because you're sick. But you have a point too. At least I think so. "End game" means nothing to me but I have heard others use it so there must be some people that get there. Somewhere along the way I think I became the "very casual" gamer you mention. And I didn't even see it coming.

But I'm packing my leather and chain mail bikini for Rift --meet you at the gate !

[Morreion]

Hah!

Let me add my vote to the 'I don't care about the endgame' faction. It's always been the journey to me that was the most fun. Design has something to do with this as well- why can't a game be as interesting leveling up as it is at the end? This may be a player perception issue.

[Loendal]

Players nowadays focus on gear; they've been trained to do so. People create character templates before a game is released and tweak anything and everything they can to mix/max. The Majority of players can't even type in coherent sentences, let alone be bothered to read anything other then item descriptions. It's not really an industry problem, it's the players. They won't stand for anything else. Hell, there's an Internet meme called TL;DR which pretty much sums it up!

They simply don't care about why they're doing something, only that they get Item X when they're done so they can either a) Use it to make themselves more powerful or b) Sell it for an exorbitant amount of money so they can buy Item Z which makes them more powerful or c) Get enough XP to make it to the next level. The story is lost, the eye-candy is what makes them even take interest. Most of these folks nowadays would never survive a Zork game for long

And yes, I'm aware I sound like an old fogey. All I need is the ability to shout "Get off my lawn!" at these folks and I'm set!